Fair-Labor Logos Find Factory Home

For more than a decade, activists urged college-logo clothing
manufacturers to end poverty wages and labor rights violations in their
factories. Campus-based organizations like United Students Against
Sweatshops pressured companies to allow monitoring by the labor rights
watchdog Worker Rights Consortium (WRC).

These campaigns won a major breakthrough when Alta Gracia Apparel
adopted a new business model designed to provide high standards for
fair-labor conditions. The Alta Gracia factory, owned by American
company Knights Apparel, opened in the Dominican Republic in August
2010 to produce college-logo clothing in cooperation with the local
garment workers’ union.

Alta Gracia exceeds industry norms by paying a living wage—more than
three and a half times the Dominican minimum. Based on a WRC
cost-of-living study, this salario digno, or “dignified wage,” enables
Alta Gracia workers to support their families, covering the costs of
food, housing, health care, transportation, and education for their
children.

Higher wages from the factory have had a ripple effect in the
surrounding community. Food stands have opened to greet the lunch rush,
shiny new motorcycle taxis scoot workers to and from the factory, and
construction companies are building more secure and livable homes.

The Alta Gracia model also extends the notion of “school pride”
beyond the American college campuses where the company sells its
products. Workers’ children have access to early education, and workers
themselves can now afford to attend weekend continuing-education
classes.

“Alta Gracia has given my family the chance for a better education,”
says union leader Yenny Perez. “The factory even has a free daycare
where my 4-year-old can play while I’m working.”

Alta Gracia products are stocked in 350 college bookstores in the
United States. They retail at the same price as comparable college-logo
apparel, but are the first brand to carry a tag from the WRC confirming
that Alta Gracia pays a living wage, respects workers’ rights, and
allows unrestricted, frequent labor-condition monitoring.

MORE SIGNS OF LIFE

LABOR JUSTICE

EDUCATION

HUMAN RIGHTS

ECONOMY

ENVIRONMENT

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Rachel Taber wrote this article for Can Animals Save Us?, the Spring 2011 issue of YES! Magazine. Rachel is Alta Gracia National Organizer and a University of Washington and United Students Against Sweatshops alumna.